Where is Gonzalo Lira? Fears for YouTuber missing in Ukraine's Kharkov article

[Cosmos]

From what I understand, when Gonzalo was in Kiev, his family was in Kharkov. When Gonzalo arrived in Kharkov, his family had already left Ukraine, although it is unclear how his wife and two kids escaped from Ukraine. Then, I remember Gonzalo saying they were "in a safe location and far, far away from here." Understandably, he avoided giving too many details with regards to the location of his family once he arrived in Kharkov.

Ohh, if that should really be the case then I’m quite misinformed about that detail! I would like to know where he said that exactly. I was under the impression that when he came to Kharkov that he said he choose to hide „underground“ seperatley of his family (to protect them in case they find him), while they reside somewhere else in the city, relatively „safely“.

 

[Natus Videre]

Ohh, if that should really be the case then I’m quite misinformed about that detail! I would like to know where he said that exactly. I was under the impression that when he came to Kharkov that he said he choose to hide „underground“ seperatley of his family (to protect them in case they find him), while they reside somewhere else in the city, relatively „safely“.

Found it! At the time of the video, Gonzalo is underground in a "safe location" in Kharkov.

Who Is Zelensky? A Puppet—and Here’s Why
March 5, 2022

From 4:33

On Wednesday, some individuals came looking for me at my home. And they banged on my door quite a bit. They really, really wanted me apparently, but by sheer luck, I wasn't there. Because of this (and I was warned by people there) I have gone underground. I'm in a new location. It's a safe location. The great good fortune I have is that my children are not with me which breaks my heart. It completely shatters me not to be with my children. I miss them so much. You have no idea how much I miss them. And whenever I think about them, I feel really low. But the great good thing is that they are far from me. They are very safe and so these goons will not ever find them. And that is a blessing.

 

[Cosmos]

Found it! At the time of the video, Gonzalo is underground in a "safe location" in Kharkov.

Who Is Zelensky? A Puppet—and Here’s Why
March 5, 2022

From 4:33

Well, the provided text doesn’t say or proof that his family is not also in the city. Nor does it necessarily suggest that they are outside of the country. I‘ll try to find the video where I thought I heard him say that they are somewhere else in Kharkov.

 

[Cosmos]

I have just started to listen to it and so far the analysis is as great as always. Here is the new Twitter account from Gonzalo (which he mentions there):

https://mobile.twitter.com/GonzaloLira1968

Here is what Gonzalo had to say about his situation today on twitter:

I thought this would happen—people starting a whisper campaign out of malice, boredom or whatever.

Always nip this kind of nonsense in the bud.

Alex Christoforou of the Duran saw my SBU arrest protocol on camera—I will send him scans as soon as I have access to a machine.

1/ https://twitter.com/21mMichael/status/1517896244793913344

---------------------------------------------

The SBU specifically ordered me to:

- Not leave Kharkov.

- Not discuss the “investigation” of my case, which I was told I can't do according to Ukraine law.

I so promised when I signed the synopsis of my second interrogation, though I was not given a copy of this document.

2/

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I am not under house arrest. I am free on my own recognizance.

But since everything is closed except for some supermarkets and pharmacies, and since I cannot leave the city on pain of imprisonment, it's the same as house arrest.

3/

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My electronics were all confiscated—including my iPhone w/ access to all my email accounts, all of which had their passwords changed. Hence no access to my YouTube, Patreon, Telegram or old Twitter—at least for now.

(It took them 3 minutes to break into my iPhone, btw.)

4/

---------------------------------------------

They let me keep my 9 y.o. MacBook Air, which previous to this I had been using exclusively for prose writing.

This is the computer I have been using for Twitter and email.

5/

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I cannot buy a cellphone or SIM card as all the stores are closed.

Therefore, I cannot get a new Gmail account—so therefore no YouTube channel and no videos.

I will explore alt platforms like Odysee and Rumble. (If anyone knows someone there, tell them to reach out to me.)

6/

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I don't know what else to report. As I said, I can't at this time describe anything that happened during this process.

But without going into any detail, I can say that during this lost week, I was bored out of my mind and scared silly—at the same time, all the time.

7/

---------------------------------------------

That's all I'll say about my lost week because:

1. I don't want to be defined by this. Frankly, it was no big deal—I've dealt with worse.

2. More importantly, better people (Assange, 1/6 prisoners, etc.) deserve your focus and attention.

I'm fine. So move along now.
GL

8/8

 

[Approaching Infinity]

So, here is what I gathered so far about Gonzalo's situation at the moment and some of my speculations:

One other point to add to this. In the Medhurst interview he mentions that the fact that he has two foreign passports helped.

 

[Cosmos]

Found it! At the time of the video, Gonzalo is underground in a "safe location" in Kharkov.

Who Is Zelensky? A Puppet—and Here’s Why
March 5, 2022

From 4:33

Well, the provided text doesn’t say or proof that his family is not also in the city. Nor does it necessarily suggest that they are outside of the country. I‘ll try to find the video where I thought I heard him say that they are somewhere else in Kharkov.

Well, I tried to find those video sections which probably let me to assume that his family is still in Kharkov. I couldn't find the section yet that I thought I heard "where he said" they are still somewhere else in the city, but I found some snippets here and there which at this point lead me to believe that I might have inferred that this must be the case, out of what he said in several videos. From what I've heard now personally again, it seems to me that I'm not able to pinpoint any of the three assumptions to be the correct one: first, that they are still in the city, second, that they are not, or third, if they are not in the city that they are outside the country.

 

[Natus Videre]

Well, I tried to find those video sections which probably let me to assume that his family is still in Kharkov. I couldn't find the section yet that I thought I heard "where he said" they are still somewhere else in the city, but I found some snippets here and there which at this point lead me to believe that I might have inferred that this must be the case, out of what he said in several videos. From what I've heard now personally again, it seems to me that I'm not able to pinpoint any of the three assumptions to be the correct one: first, that they are still in the city, second, that they are not, or third, if they are not in the city that they are outside the country.

I remember Gonzalo saying that around 90% of people left Kharkov and that it looked like a post-apocalyptic city, so I think he would be terrified of having his family in that area. When he says "they are very safe and so these goons will not ever find them," it suggests that his family is not in Ukraine (if we assume these [SBU] "goons" can only target people in Ukraine). You're right—it doesn't prove anything. Unless we get a clear confirmation, we'll have to go along with Gonzalo's sense of "security" and "distance"!

 

[ApotheosisMMC.]

Gonzalo has made the following statements on his twitter in relation to his arrest and why he kept a certain silence regarding his capture, basically he did not want to play the role of a victim and through that become famous:


Something of interest I'm discovering: I consciously decided not to ride and flog the Victim Pony over my lost week— —which is making people seriously confused. They view it as a golden opportunity to “raise your profile”—but my not doing so is making them... *agitated*. 1/

The whole of contemporary Western culture is geared to elevating the victim. When presented with the perfect story to claim victimhood—“Arrested by the secret police for talking truth to power!”—everyone expects the “victim” to follow the approved, well-worn story-line. 2/

First comes a few relieved appearances, to show you are a “survivor”. Then some brief, carefully orchestrated appearances hinting at the misery you endured, and how you are “recovering”. Third comes a big major interview—with tears—recounting the horrors you experienced. 3/

After that, you take on the mantle of— SOCIALLY APPROVED VICTIM You are now in the constellation of the anointed—of those whose suffering gives them special moral heft that allows their banal, often imbecilic or delusional utterances to be taken seriously, without question. 4/

Becoming one of these monstrosities is a social trump card: You no longer have to DO anything—you just have to BE. As a victim, you will get lifelong respect and attention for doing nothing. And I'm realizing that *everyone wants to be one!* Because you get so many perks! 5/

It’s why literally everyone in the West—certainly in the US—is constantly trying to frame their mildly difficult experiences as “victimization”: They want the social capital that comes with being a victim. And they will exaggerate and lie to achieve the category, if need be. 6/

I made up my mind not to be a victim—at first because I did not want to be branded by a single event in my life which, truth be told, wasn't as traumatic or difficult as other experiences I've had. It wasn't easy—but it certainly wasn't the hardest thing I've dealt with. 7/

But over the past 48 hours, I've found myself becoming increasingly repelled by the notion of taking on the mantle of victim. Because it is passive, something that happens to you. A victim is someone on whom the world has left a mark—and gelded him, rendering him impotent. 8/

I want no part of that—and I'm realizing why some famous “victims” in our contemporary culture have gone out of their way to shrug off the mantle: Victimhood is an epoxy that turns you into a knick-knack in the culture—and not an active participant. Thanks, but no. 9/

I've learned from experience that, to get over a bad patch, you just carry on like you were doing before. And as you move forward and the distance grows, you start to see the bad patch in the greater context of your whole life. 10/

You don't *deny* it happened—you just don't let one incident, no matter how painful, overwhelm the entire course of your life. You deliberately take a breath, and see it for what it was: A single unpleasant stop in your rearview mirror—receding as you move forward. 11/11


Also by what is seen in his twitter posts, he does not intend to stop with his narrative against the actions of the Kyiv regime.

 

[Evan]

New YouTube channel is up.

Gonzalo Lira YouTube

 

[Cosmos]

Gonzalo is back on YouTube!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUzUq5L9NFv2GMVGbEBgkg

 

[Cosmos]

Gonzalo no longer trusts Scott Ritter:

From what Gonzalo presented I can't judge if his assessment could be accurate, but from Gonzalo's track record it seems to be that he could be right on the money about Ritter. I also have to say that what Ritter said when Gonzalo was missing (Gonzalo brings it up above) also surprised me quite a bit when I saw it back then (besides finding it strange) and made me cautious ever since.

 

[Meg]

From what Gonzalo presented I can't judge if his assessment could be accurate, but from Gonzalo's track record it seems to be that he could be right on the money about Ritter. I also have to say that what Ritter said when Gonzalo was missing (Gonzalo brings it up above) also surprised me quite a bit when I saw it back then (besides finding it strange) and made me cautious ever since.

Your comment reminded me of something Craig Unger said in his Vanity Fair piece called: "The War They Wanted, The Lies They Needed":

Cui Bono?

Unraveling a disinformation campaign is no easy task. It means entering a kingdom of shadows peopled by would-be Machiavellis who are practiced in the art of deception. “In the world of fabrication, you don’t just drop something and let someone pick it up,” says Bearden. “Your first goal is to make sure it doesn’t find its way back to you, so you do several things. You may start out with a document that is a forgery, that is a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy, which makes it hard to track down. You go through cutouts so that the person who puts it out doesn’t know where it came from. And you build in subtle, nuanced errors so you can say, ‘We would never misspell that.’ If it’s very cleverly done, it’s a chess game, not checkers.”

Reporters who have entered this labyrinth often emerge so perplexed that they choose not to write about it. “The chances of being manipulated are very high,” says Claudio Gatti, a New York–based investigative reporter at Il Sole, the Italian business daily. “That’s why I decided to stay out of it.”

I guess we'll have to, as the C's put it, 'wait and see'.

 

[Cosmos]

A follow up by Gonzalo:

 

[Cosmos]

Gonzalo no longer trusts Scott Ritter:

From what Gonzalo presented I can't judge if his assessment could be accurate, but from Gonzalo's track record it seems to be that he could be right on the money about Ritter. I also have to say that what Ritter said when Gonzalo was missing (Gonzalo brings it up above) also surprised me quite a bit when I saw it back then (besides finding it strange) and made me cautious ever since.

I have given it a bit more thought. From what Gonzalo presented above I‘m not sure if I would agree with his assessment about Ritter. It could be that Gonzalo somewhat jumped the gun here. But it could also be that he is right. I need more data to have a clear opinion.

It could very well be that Ritter just believed some of the rumors circulating during Gonzalos lost week and reported it as „a fact“. In fact, that is what I suspected back then when I saw his statement and later after it was clear what happened to Gonzalo. But I still think it is rather strange that Ritter would fall for such unsubstantiated rumors and report them as a fact, considering that he most likely should have known that it isn’t a fact considering his intelligence background and seemingly „very good and accurate reporting“ up to that point in time. If anyone should know better, Ritter should. Also, Gonzalos point about Ritter calling him Gonzo (as though they were friends/buddies) in that post back then is a point I was a bit confused about back then too.

Here Ritter responds to some of the allegations:

 

[Seppo Ilmarinen]

Looks like Gonzalo's ego is taking hold of him and creating totally unnecessary drama. At least that's how it appears to me after watching both Gonzalo's and Ritter's takes on this. Gonzalo omits parts of the post that Ritter shared during his capture, and his whole point is weird, as Ritter helped to gain attention for his case, likely improving the situation.

Ritter (like anyone else) could be off with some of his conclusions (which he admits), but that's not a reason to attack his persona (there's no evidence of him wanting to go mainstream). Ritter's additional analysis above makes sense, though the 40 billion military aid by US being part of this "game changer" he says (which he gives imo pretty nuanced take) may be mostly going to run Ukraine's corrupted government, NGO's etc and instead only 6 billion of it going to actual military arms and training (according to the Duran guys).